Trailblazer SS

[silver_bullet]

Yes! The exhaust manifold bolts do break while in service... now is the time to replace them!

[Deaf Bob]

I never understood the concept "torque to yield" and "non reuseable"
I'd not do 3/4 of what I did without reusing bolts/nuts My early cars were all reused bolts, the kid got tired of salvaging and could afford boxed stuff

[SuperBuickGuy]

I never understood the concept "torque to yield" and "non reuseable"
I'd not do 3/4 of what I did without reusing bolts/nuts My early cars were all reused bolts, the kid got tired of salvaging and could afford boxed stuff

Oh Bob, you are such a liar - you know exactly what torque to yield is, you tighten until just a bit before it breaks.... or yields. Because of science, we now have to keep track of the distance between tight enough and just before it breaks.... stupid science.

[Deaf Bob]

True, I understand it, BUT why would you want fasteners on the brink of breaking?

[DanStokes]

I swapped the head bolts on my Windstar with ARPs that torqued to a value. Worked great and the last I heard the head gaskets never failed again. Not a fan of TTY bolts.

Dan

[STINEY]

True, I understand it, BUT why would you want fasteners on the brink of breaking?

You wouldn't.............unless you were a Bean-Counter and were spreading the additional cost of REAL FASTENERS over hundreds of thousands of cars.

Its a cost-saving measure, pure and simple. Less material per bolt.

[DanStokes]

Got a bit more done though I spent most of the day gathering parts around town.

I started by swapping the plug wires then took on the exhaust manifolds. It turns out that Lon (he used to be on here) was right and several of the attaching bolts had failed (note the second hole from the right in this pic). This shot shows a pretty clear exhaust leak though I suspect it was a small one. I draw-filed the manifold surfaces (they were pretty funky) and went with FelPro gaskets which were of a different construction than the OEMs. I also popped for the new Dorman bolts which hopefully are engineered to last forever.


And here's the solid gold fasteners (or maybe just plated w/some process) in place.


Then I started swapping the flex plates as the one from the original engine was a known good (good gear teeth, etc.) though they both rang nicely and I didn't see signs of cracks on either. Unfortunately, I was evidently attacked by a band of International Loc-Tite thieves as there was none in any of my hiding places. I need to run down to the parts store tomorrow AM and pick up the spark plugs so I'll grab more thread locker then. The one we'll use is sitting in place so all I need will be some lb/ft after I get the Loc-Tite.


I'm also harvesting the sensors off the old engine so Casey will have a stash in the event of future failure. Several in a bag so far.

Dan

[wrenchn2]

Looks good you are making progress. I did notice a dowel pin missing on the back of the block to go to the trans hopefully you can get the one out of the old engine. If you clean the dowel pins up nice they will slide into the trans a little easier every little bit helps.

[DanStokes]

Looks good you are making progress. I did notice a dowel pin missing on the back of the block to go to the trans hopefully you can get the one out of the old engine. If you clean the dowel pins up nice they will slide into the trans a little easier every little bit helps.

I noticed that last night so I'll pop one out of the old engine. I also have a couple of long bolts that will bet their heads chopped off and will turn into alignment pins (I have a drawer full of these but not with that goofy GM thread so I'll make some that do). I've figured out where to put the pins so that I can get them back out and will go for it. Thanks for noticing!

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

GM had a bulletin on those exhaust bolts - to fix, you do need to get the manifold milled, then use the 'upgraded' bolts. Do it on all of them...

[DanStokes]

I hope I did the right thing.....

Dan

[silver_bullet]

Crossing fingers, If they didn't crack the manifolds on reinstall, I'm hoping you'll be fine....

[DanStokes]

They seem to be OK so far.

The engine is back in the hole but there's much more to do, like line up the trans, etc. So no pics - it's not quite an event yet. My brother Dave is here and helping and it's a real improvement.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Big Day!

The engine is sitting happily on it's mounts with the trans aligned and soon (tomorrow) will need lots of bolts and nuts. Also, the AC compressor is back in place (NOT an easy job) which seemed to be easier before the engine was fully in. My brother Dave was a HUGE help as I wrestled the bottom and he fought with the top.

In the hole:



Different view:



I also replaced all the idlers on the front drive - easy now and really tough later.

Dan

[silver_bullet]

A belt driven intake would be easier to install at this point....